A Visitor asked the following question on 4/28/2004
Is the use of cortizone an important factor in an older Rottweiler? My Rottie was put on cortizone for arthritis in her hips and it also seemed like for every little thing I was told to keep using the cortizone. When she was feeling more healthy, usually during the cooler months, I would stop giving her the cortizone thinking this may be having some long term affect on her. She got very sick one day and I had given her an aspirin for her hip instead of the cortizone. When I called the vet I was asked by the receptionist why I was giving her aspirin I should never have taken her off of the cortizone. I was never at any time told by my vet that she needed to be on this from now on. As a matter of fact he told me when she was feeling better, I did not need to give it to her. A few months after that, right around her nineth birthday, she seemed to be getting tired more quickly. I also noticed that she was not eating, this upset me because she was always a very big eater. I called the vet and he diagnosed her with anemia after a blood test. He immediately put her back on the cortizone and at a very high dose. Unfortunely, she could not be saved. Within one week of being diagnosed, she started to bleed internally and could not be saved. I could get over how this happened. She was given the full wellness testing, which included a full blood test six months before. How could this happen so quickly? The main question on my mind, is did I fail her by taking her off the cortizone? If so, why was I not told by the vet that these pills are helping her stay healthy? They must do something if that was the first remedy that he tried. Would her outcome still have been the same if I kept her on the cortizone, or would she have lived a little longer?
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8/20/04
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I am so sorry to hear of your lose. It is very common for vets to give dogs cortizone for joint pain and ect. To be honest I am not a vet and have used cortizone on a dog before but had no ill effects what so ever. But I honestly do not believe this happened to your furkid because you did not continue the cortizone. Depending on what type of aneamia she was diagnosed with it just may have been missed in her previous blood test. So please do not feel you failed her/him in anyway. You did what you though was best for her/him at that time.
Yours truly,
Michelle Norwood
www.rnfrottweilerkennel.com
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Michelle
RNF Rottweiler Kennel
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